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Gig Guide
Saturday July 4th
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· Bath St: DJ MILK & DJ SYRUS
· Isis Lounge: AMANDA & JO
· Ra Bar: DJ’S JORDAN HIGHAM & ALI ROMANOS
· St Pauls Cathedral: Anniversary Accolades - Celebrating Classic Choral Composers
· Chicks Hotel: Delgirl Live
· Circadian Rhythm Cafe: Marcus Turner and Phil Corfield & The Jokers
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06 November, 2007
The Puddle Album Release Gig - Circadian Rhythm, 19/10/07
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The Puddle Album Release Gig - Circadian Rhythm, 19/10/07
Page 1
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At first, [The Puddle] are a difficult prospect. They will not play the same game as every other band, so you get early starts (for this town anyway), no support band (other than the band itself) and a lot of music. It can be overwhelming, but for those with patience, it can also be very rewarding.
By the time I arrived at Circadian Rhythm at 9:30pm, [The Puddle] were already three songs into their set. Having set up their current incarnation as a three piece (gat, bass, drums) with only the vocals going through a PA, it was obvious this place was ideal for The Puddle. Each section of the band was entirely audible in their own right, with the vocals clearly and unobtrusively over the top. And it is important (although not imperative fo enjoy the gig) to be able to hear the vocals, as the lyrics are one of the major strengths of [The Puddle]. They possess a poetic, literary quality that is sorely lacking in New Zealand music, and coupled with an uncanny ability to meld them to the catchiest, yet understated, pop songs you've never heard, it is a wonder that this band is so under appreciated.
But it is also obvious why they are so under appreciated. An unwillingness to play the music business game and a restlessness that ensures you are always hearing unfamiliar songs rather than the same old hits done to death and beyond, will ensure that The Puddle will always make people work to appreciate them. In this manner they have the complete opposite problem to The Chills, where Martin Phillipps clings to his legacy like a dead albatross to the detriment of the vitality of The Chills and the potential for audience growth, George Henderson would seemingly rather ditch the old songs in favour of the most recent material he's written in order to share them with people while they're still exciting to him, helping ensure the audience is not overly familiar with the bulk of the setlist and adding to the possibility of alienation.
To this end the set performed is mainly new material (with the new album showcased song by song in it's entirety at the beginning of the first set) with a sprinkling of older material mainly courtesy of Into The Moon. The flourishes of multi-instrumentalists from the recordings are reduced with the line up being a three piece, but this in no way hinders the songs, in fact it allows for some reinterpretation, as was the case with Into The Moon's Monogamy which featured an extended guitar solo outro. George Henderson's guitar playing could be described as unorthodox (as could everything about The Puddle) and due to playing without his thumb behind the neck of the guitar at first appears amateurish. Nothing could be further from reality however, and any deficiencies therein are turned to virtues. Songs are performed with a seeming sense of the lackadaisical (particularly on The Beast Within), but it is in fact the heart of the song that is considered important rather than the ability to render it note perfect every time.
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